Tale in Barcelona

My girlfriend and I were very excited to explore Barcelona that we started off the day quite early even though we were still tired after all the running around Paris the day before.

Weather was great, we just had our daily shot of caffein at what has became our favorite breakfast spot at Barcelona because the coffee and the sandwich there are just divine (maybe we were just hungry) and the waitresses are so friendly even though there was an obvious language barrier between us. We left the cafe leaving a shiny 2 Euro coin as a tip.

It was our first day in Barcelona and right away we decided to follow the trail that Gaudi has left behind in this city. After unraveling the trams' paths like a puzzle, we decided that Park Guell was the best spot to start our journey as it was the furthest so that we could work our way closer and closer to the city centre as the day progresses.

Upon setting our foot at the entrance, the sense of being in some sort of magical wonderland hit us; there was a guy at the gate playing a musical instrument called 'hang', which completed the whole whimsical vibe.

Man, that Gaudi guy has some imagination. It's our first Gaudi stop and I like him already. We decided to start exploring Park Guell from the outer part, and savor the crust later, the part which houses the infamous lizard/dragon.

As we were walking down the path, two ladies approached us from behind. They were well-dressed. Trench coat, shades and everything. They were pointing towards the branches of the tree above us and were motioning to something behind us. We looked to our backs and guess what, apparently a bird has pooed all over us. Over our head, down the back of our clothes, thank God we got our jacket off because the weather was pretty warm that day.

A couple of seconds passed by before the smell of the poo hit us. Like really hit us. Birds were supposed to eat berries and worms and pretty much strictly organic stuff, why the hell did their poo end up smelling this bad? I was on the brink of throwing up.

Instantaneously, one of the two woman shoved a bottle of mineral water to our face. And they came to our rescue, cleaning off the poo of our shirts. I was busy getting that damn thing off of my friend's hair, when the other lady motioned for me to look at my back. And I realized my damage was just as bad as my friend's. So her friend took over cleaning my friend's hair and I let the woman help me clean myself.

At some point, I had the urge to keep my handbag which was slung across the shoulder in front of me, just so I could watch it better. Once a while, I pat my handbag, just to feel that everything (camera, wallet, handphone) was still inside. I wasn't too worried about my friend as she was more prepared than me; she wore a money belt beneath her T-shirt so she will be fine.

We excused ourselves to go to the toilet as the smell was getting too unbearable that I felt like taking off the shirt and washed it in the sink before putting it back. It was a sunny day anyway, it'll dry eventually. But they insisted to help us. After several time of saying 'thank you' we managed to disentangle ourselves from them and hurried to the toilet.

There was a long queue. Full of old people. I think they just got off the same bus and everyone decided to head to the loo. Bladder problem and old people, it makes sense, not to be disrespectful or anything. As we were in the line, there was three American tourists behind us wearing sour faces, apparently pissed off at being poo-ed on by a certain species of bird with digestion problem. We got into a conversation discussing the shitty experience, pun intended.

Scrubbing did nothing to the stink the poo left behind so my friend and I decided to head back to the hotel, change before continuing our journey. Gaudi has to wait and make way to this unexpected force of nature.

On our way back to the tram, we passed this souvenir shop and my friend saw something that she liked. So we went in, hoping to just grab the stuff and pay as fast as we could, so as not to make people faint at the mere smell of us. As my friend walked to the counter, she took her wallet out of her bag and to her surprise...it was empty. Every drop of cash that she has, every single receipt that she kept in there was gone. Nada. Zip. We were gobsmacked.

It took us a few moment to register what has just taken place. That two seemingly good samaritans that we thought had helped us clean bird poo off of us had actually helped themselves to a handful of cash, around 160 Euro, 40 pounds and a couple of ringgit malaysia notes. They even got to her money belt underneath her shirt.

It was a masterfully orchestrated, sophisticated pickpocketing. The setting was perfect. A bird in a park. Two well-dressed ladies. With a bottle of mineral water. And it happened so fast. It couldn't have been any longer than one whole minute.

Going into the trip, we knew we would have been an easy target, traveling in a group of two young ladies. We have been extra careful thus far. My friend separated her cash in smaller groups to minimize the damage if something bad were to happen. But it happened anyway.

Looking back, I think I know whose fault it is. Our previous destination before Barcelona was Paris. In Paris we have encountered very friendly, helpful people. At one point, we were lost while trying to find our hotel, when suddenly out of nowhere this good-looking young lad approached us and asked if we needed any help. He even went as far as using the GPS in his iPhone and leading the way for us to our hotel. He guided us along a pretty small alleyway and I remember thinking "Uh-oh we are totally dead, he's gonna take out a knife right about now and rob us and kill us both here and nobody would know and it's gonna be our own stupid fault!" Yeah I'm paranoid like that.

But no. We arrived safely at the hotel, 5 minutes into our search thanks to the unexpected help of this charming French guy.

So yeah, in conclusion, let's blame the French people. For being too helpful that we have let our guards down a bit.

p.s : Upon coming back home and doing a little google-ing, I've found out that the bird poo scam is a pretty famous one. Read full article here.